A Vision

Joseph StellaWW-1925-014278

1925·Oil on canvas·203.2 × 101.6 cm (80 × 40 in.)

<p>In 1922 Joseph Stella revisited his native Italy and became fascinated by Renaissance painting. After returning to New York, he began to produce detailed, symbolic compositions such as <em>A Vision</em>, which was originally a mural commission. Stella was enthralled by the tropical plants he observed at the Bronx Botanical Garden, and here he imagined a woman growing out of the earth like the exotic flowers on either side of her. This painting’s fantastical subject also aligns it with modern art, particularly the dreamlike imagery of Surrealism.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1925
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 203.2 × 101.6 cm (80 × 40 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Joseph Stella

Artist

Joseph Stella

Painting

Joseph Stella was an American painter and sculptor who worked in Futurism and Precisionism during the early twentieth century. Born in Italy and based in New York, he is best known for his dynamic urban landscapes and industrial scenes rendered in sharply defined geometric forms and vivid color. His monumental works, including the five-panel painting Brooklyn Bridge (1919, 1920), capture the energy and scale of American modernism through fragmented perspectives and machine-age aesthetics. Stella's synthesis of Italian Futurist dynamism with American industrial subject matter established him as a defining figure in early American modernism.

Lucano, Italy

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